Justification For Killing (26 page)

“
Quickly
Clem attach your winch. Pick that sucker up and sit it flat on the
ground while we can still see it.” Clem, snapping out of his
stunned state, and moved swiftly to attach the wench’s cable onto
the lifting bar built into the front of
Pegasus
. Running around to the side
of the wench he pushed the lever forward, and the slack in the
steel cable tightened. The tension on the wench’s cable was
tremendous...tighter and tighter the cable became. Could Clem’s
small wrecker pick up this futuristic time machine? Slowly, slowly,
straining under the heavy weight the wench began to lift the flying
machine from the stump. Clem jumped into the cab of the wrecker and
began expertly to lower the silver time machine a couple of feet
onto the flat ground. “That’s perfect Clem let her down right
there.”

Clem got the cable
un-hooked just as a loud hissing noise began. Clem looked at his
wrecker - he thought the time machine’s weight had blown a tire.
Nothing was wrong with the tires. The escape hatch opening was
causing pressurized air to escape from inside resulting in the
hissing should. Slowly a section of the skin on the titanium body
started to move. A round hatch appeared and slowly
opened.

All Clem could utter was,
‘dadburn, dadburn.’

The hatch was wide open -
we’ve got five minutes to get inside - want a look-see
Clem?”

“
Nah, I can see good from
out here. Besides that thang might close with me
inside.”

“
Don’t worry Clem. Once
inside I can open the hatch whenever I want. We just cannot get
back inside until the appointed time. Come on Clem it won’t bite
you!”

“
Dadburn, I wish bite was
all that thang could do to me. But okay I’ll take a
peek.”

“
Good, pull the truck
alongside we’ll just use it as a ladder to reach the
hatch.”

REPAIR PEGASUS

Once inside the
craft the bank of lights on the instrument were blinking wildly.
The three gages indicated the GPS coordinates were labeled,
‘
DEPART
’
, ‘
DESTINATION
’
and ‘
RETURN
’. The Captain read the numbers out loud,
‘
DEPART
’ 38
degrees 57 minutes 0 seconds North 77 degrees 37 minutes 35 seconds
West, ‘
DESTINATION
’ 32 degree 64 minutes 47 seconds North 96 degrees 48 minutes
30 seconds West and ‘
RETURN’
38 degrees 57 minutes 0 seconds North 77 degrees
47 minutes 35seconds West. I just wish I had looked at those dials
before I left Washington; however, the gauge on my arrival time
back in Washington is 12:29:31 just one second from my departure
time.”

“
John, I jest hate to ask
but what in the devil er you talking about, and most of all, what
is that god-awful smell in here? It smells like one of them cows
done got in here an fertilized this place.”

Thinking for a moment, the
Captain grinned when he thought of the towel he had used earlier to
wipe the manure from his boot... it had been lying over in the
corner, fermenting for the past couple of days. Clem was right - it
was truly ‘ripe’. Walking to the hatch he tossed the white towel
out into the night air.

“
See
those numbers,” the Captain said pointing with his finger to the
glowing displays, “they indicate where I left from, where I was
supposed to land and where and when I am to return. As you can see
‘
DEPARTURE
’ and
‘
RETURN
’ should
be exactly the same, I know the ‘
DESTINATION
’ is wrong and look at
the ‘
DEPARTURE
’
and ‘
RETURN
’ Clem
- they are different. Notice the 37 in minutes in
‘
DEPARTURE
’ is 47
minutes in ‘
RETURN’
. I am thinking that will put me smack dab in the middle of
the Potomac River. I do not believe I want that hatch opening up in
all that water. Besides I don’t know if this thing floats, and Clem
the date is wrong too. I left on the 21st, but the
‘
RETURN
’ date
states the 22nd. That can’t be right.”

“
Okay John, let’s fixer.
Tell me what to do.”

“
Do? Do? Clem, there’s
nothing you or I can do. This, as you say, dadburn thing cannot be
fixed from our end. A highly trained PHD in Computer Sciences and
Electrical Engineering must handle these computers Clem. It takes
years of training and experience to even touch the inside of this
‘gadget’ as you would call it. One slip up and the whole computer
system will be fried.”

As the Captain was
talking he heard the faint rendition of
The Stars and Stripes Forever
, “What
the...” Clem said.

“
It’s my Iphone ringing
Clem. Let me see what’s going on.” He said removing his phone from
the console where it had been charging. Putting it to his ear he
hesitantly answered, “Hello?”

“
Captain Scarburg is that
really you? Thank God you are alive. I have been so worried about
you.”

“
Who is THIS?” Captain
Scarburg asked.

“
Why... why it’s Mike
Watkins... Mike your Flight Prep Crew Chief. How are things going
Captain?”

“
What the... what a first
question Mike! Where the blazes are you?”

“
Right where I have been
since you blasted off - well since you disappeared out into the
wild blue yonder, but you have only been gone a second or
two.”

“
Mike, the wild blue
yonder is a cow pasture about forty miles north of Dallas and just
a bit north west of a place named Celina, Texas. Today is Saturday
the 23rd of November 1963. You say I’ve only been gone a second or
so - I’ve been here going on three days Mike! Oh well we’ll figure
this out later if I ever get home.”

“
What can I do to help
Captain?”

“
Mike
I’ve got a problem. The program on my departure indicator shows my
final destination will be the middle of the Potomac River there in
Washington. But the main problem is the light next to the
‘
RETURN’
dial is
blinking. I know it’s red, I saw it during our testing, but I
actually cannot tell the color right now. I’ll explain this later
too... I hope. Right above this light is a red ‘
ABORT
’ that is blinking also. I know
someone had sabotaged the computers before I left - so the question
is: how can I fix them? And second, what does this red light truly
mean? I’m actually afraid to ask - blinking red lights are usually
not a good sign. Right? And before we get into that Mike, tell me
one thing, how in the devil are we talking to each
other.”

“
Captain, I was digging
through some of the alien documents that had been de-coded, and I
discovered a whole set of instructions on building a machine, which
uses Tachyons to communicate long distances at speeds faster than
light.”

“
Tackeyons? What the...?
What, faster than the speed of light that can’t be.”

“
I can’t
get into the particulars of them now, it’s too complicated. But
Einstein called it ‘spooky action at a distance.’ Suffice it to say
Tachyons were once thought to be a hypothetical subatomic particle
that moves faster than light. They still are hypothetical to the
rest of the scientific community! I haven’t told anyone about
actually discovering them. Well, I didn’t “discover” them as you
know, the aliens did, but who’s counting. I also constructed a
receiver/transmitter for this device and placed it in
Pegasus,
and another one
is here in my lab. Then I linked the receive/transmit frequency to
your Iphone. The only problem, well so far, whoever is in
Pegasus
, must be
materialized in a time equal to or earlier than the date shown on
our master clock here in the lab.

Mike went on to
explain if someone tries to communicate with him and they are in a
‘time’ later than his time, he cannot talk to them because the
event hasn’t happened yet! In simple terms, if
Pegasus
is in his future he cannot
communicate with it. He said, when the Captain returned, he would
try to explain more in detail about those Tachyons. Patting himself
on the back he said, “But they work reasonably well, huh?” There
was one other drawback, he further explained: for the Captain’s
Smartphones sending or receiving calls the phones must to be within
approximately five miles of
Pegasus
. Mike also installed an
onboard computer, which will record every word transmitted. If
needed, they can download any conversation on the return of
Pegasus
to SCAR’s
laboratory. While on the ground, in any situation,
Pegasus
will act as a
relay station and allow Smartphones to work in any Parallel
Universe. “Pretty good, huh?” Mike remarked.

“
Dadburn
Mike... Pretty good? Pretty good? This is unbelievable. To be able
to talk over a thousand or so miles in distance, and also stretch
it over a span of forty-nine years in time, yes this is pretty darn
good!! Okay, you can tell me about this later, right now you have
to figure out how I can get this thing to de-materialize and get
back home safely. I only have twelve hours left. Oh, one other
thing Mike... why did you program in
Amazing Grace
with the bagpipes? It
is beautiful.”

“
Thanks for the compliment
Captain, wish I could take credit for the music, but it came with
the alien plans. Once I constructed the transmitter/receiver
equipment the song just, somehow, appeared. I had nothing to do
with it.”

“
Okay, but it sure does
soothe the nerves on awaking – I’ll have to thank Anhur and his
cohorts someday.”

Mike then began to
tell the Captain he had bad news and more bad news. And he tried to
explain. Mike believed he could work around the wrong
Pegasus
destination
coordinates, if need be he could arrange for the Coast Guard to
retrieve
Pegasus
from the Potomac; however, the onboard computers were another
problem. The bad news concerned the distance: they were so far
apart... 2,139 kilometers, to be exact, and forty-nine years in
Mike’s past. If this weren’t bad enough the Captain would need a
combination of an electronic and mechanical engineer who would
register as a Mensa candidate just to get into the motherboard
of
Pegasus’
primary computer. Did he fail to mention those two experts
would need to be well versed on the computer technology of the 21st
century also? “That would help greatly.” Mike said trying to muffle
a laugh.

“
Okay Mike, I get the
picture. This pasture seems to be lacking those experts and forget
about the watery landing spot just tell me how I can turn this red
light off. As long as it’s blinking I can’t get this sucker to fly,
right?”

“
That IS correct Captain.
Okay I’ll try to walk you through it. First look for a square
service panel to your left side and near the floor. It will be grey
and has a recessed chrome, circular pull knob. Open this door - you
will see three service lines coming into the panel. Two “hot” leads
attach to a two-gang main circuit breaker that connects to two
“hot” buss bars. Individual branch circuit breakers, rated to
accept a fixed rate amperage of current should slide into the hot
“buss” bar. Each breaker has a “hot” lead that...”

Before Mike could
continue, the Captain interrupted “Enough... whoa... whoa...
stop... that’s enough Mike, don’t say any more, you’re making my
head hurt... you lost me on the opening the door part.”

Clem reached and snatched
the Iphone from John’s ear. “Gimme that tellyphone - it’s a
Me-phone now... Hello who’s this... Mike? Howdy Mike, my name’s
Clem - I’m with John... What? John who? Heck the man you was just
talkin’ to... John Doess... that John... Just tell me what to do...
I know about these thangs... What you mean it’s above my pay
grade?” I reckon I ain’t got me no pay grade, so jest splain me
what to do!!”

For the next couple of
minutes, Clem listened intently saying only, “Un-huh... okay...
yeah I know’d about that... okay... I believe I can fine it...
un-huh... sure... here you go John he wants to talk to you
agin.”

“
Yes Mike... oh the John
thing... don’t worry I’ll explain it to you later... if I ever get
home.” Captain Scarburg and Mike exchanged a few more words, and
the Captain turned the Iphone off. Turning to Clem, “Mike’s last
words were ‘Good-bye’ and he said he would break the sad news to my
family. What do you think he meant by that Clem?”

“
I dunno John... he was
talkin’ about C-Pee-Yous, hard drivers and circus boards. I’s built
sheds and stuff so I know all about them boards and planks, I’ll be
fine. I can fix this sucker. How long afore that there hole in the
wall closes?” Clem said speaking of the escape hatch.

“
About ninety
seconds.”

“
I jest
can make it,” Clem said sliding through the hatch onto his wrecker.
Grabbing a grease-encrusted red, toolbox he was back inside
Pegasus
in a flash. Well
it wasn’t a flash, but it was less than ninety seconds, for
sure.